Yes, the weekend has been good. Busy but full of lovely activities and I enjoyed every single minute of it. On Saturday we ventured out in the morning for some shopping including my visit to a very nice craft shop - The Purple Butterfly shop in Daleside Garden Centre. I'm like a kid in a candy shop there and shouldn't be really let in there with my bank card. I always leave with a carrier bag full of goodies.
Then we were doing this...
We have had three reasons to celebrate - bf's stepmum's birthday from last Thursday, today's Father's Day and the oncoming BIG Birthday of bf's nan (just a brief intro to what's gonna happen in 2 weeks time!) We were lucky with the weather and managed to fit in with our bbq cooking between the fleeting showers. There was food galore and it was so nice to be together and share the meal.
Sunday was more shopping and driving around here and there. Again some more crafty shopping with some card stock bargain at HomeSense in Broughton. I haven't managed to do much crafting in the end (apart from putting a few cross stitches on my little project) over those two busy days but here is what I've been working on for the past few days: crochet flowers!
Another episode of my crochet self-teaching. I dug out the archival issue of Mollie makes and started working on my first crochet flowers learning to follow and interpret the crocheting instructions.
Currently working on a layered crochet flower...
Ready flowers went into a glassy storage jar :)
Crocheted flower progress - from the most wonky one to the more improved ones...Still plenty to learn and practise.
I think I'll practise crocheting those flowers a little more next week and then go back to learning the remaining two basic crochet stitches - double treble and triple treble so it will be back to making crochet swatches again :)
On Saturday morning a nice surprise happened to me - Margaret, a friend from facebook kindly offered to buy me this gorgeous Christmas quaker at an online shop in Canada. I received it as a gift and the custom gods spared me paying a tax on it too! So happy! THANK YOU SO MUCH Margaret! x x x
It's a big project but it's full of lovely motifs and surely won't be boring to stitch! I also love the Olde Worldie wording on it. I'm hoping to get started on it this year, before Christmas when I'm done with my Nordic stocking first. It's going to be my first quaker to stitch.
Erika's Knight's book inspired me to reach out for some Earthy natural colours so on Saturday I got myself a few cotton yarns to practise my crochet.
Finally, something that made me wonder. Not long ago I was a little shocked to find out that this simple 19cm x 19 cm card from WHSmiths with a few coloured letters and literally only 4 embellished 3d foam mounted letters costs as much as £4.99. Just a reflection: if an average card like this costs that much, how much should crafters charge for theirs then? Unique lovely hand-made cards when plenty of time and effort is spent on cutting, trimming, stamping, embossing and embellishing? £6? £7 to make it fair? And who is going to buy them at this price? Another of those dilemmas: hand-made or mass-made? What do you think? I'd love to hear from you about it.
Some of you during the last Hand-made Monday asked me to post the photos of the finished crochet bowl I blogged about before. Well, I've finished it and you will find it - here.
Linking up to Hand-made Monday tonight to do some blog hopping and see what others have been up to this week. Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment. Have a good week all! x x
Crochet flowers are addictive, I love making them - yours look lovely (and I keep mine in a jar too!) x
ReplyDeleteGosh, your flowers are so lovely all bright and cheerful together! You seem like a natural when it comes to anything that involves yarn. Your crocheted bowl turned out great and what a pretty project to keep for holding parts and pieces of your various crafts!
ReplyDeleteThere is too much goodness in this post! Your celebration(s) sounds like a lovely day. We just finished up our Father's Day celebration and had a good time all around. Your crochet flowers are lovely. Next time I take up crochet, I'm not going to be as hard on myself as I can't tell your wonky ones from your good ones. When you're doing the work, you know every little thing that is wrong, but generally no one else notices. Your sampler will be a work of art. What a treasure when you complete it.
ReplyDeleteHi Martha,
ReplyDeletethis really looks like a WONDERFUL weekend!
Your crochet flowers are so pretty!
The new Cross Stich Project will be fantastic!!!
Wishing you a happy new week!
Hugs to you,
Claudia
Your crochet flowers look like a spring meadow bursting with color. What a cute idea to display them in a jar. I wish you a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteWhat an appropriate post title for a blog full of such lovely pictures! That is one good-looking bbq! x
ReplyDeletePS I also like to keep my crochet flowers in a clear jar so I can admire my handiwork.
what a delicious looking BBQ! I'm glad you had good weather for it.
ReplyDeleteyour crochet flowers are so pretty! I love the bright colours and admire you for mastering this skill as its one i have yet to get to grips with :)
your new stitch project is full of oldie worldie charm, it will look amazing when its done!
pricing is soooooo difficult to get right, i think as a crafter you have to be brave and ask for a reasonable price for your work based on the time put into creating it, yet its important to be aware that not everyone will be willing or able to pay that amount.... there are no easy answers but i think its important that deep down you feel comfortable with the price you're asking :) x
Now you have mentioned it, I think we are at a point where handmade cards are often cheaper bought ones! Crazy! Your crochet is coming along really well. I wonder what you are going to make with all those flowers?
ReplyDeleteYour crochet flowers are looking lovely - and what a nice idea to keep them in a jar so you can see all the bright colours.
ReplyDeleteGoodness you have a lot of projects of the go! I like the way you have put the little crochet flowers in a glass jar. Nice to be able to see your handywork. BBQ looks very scrummy, glad the weather held for you.
ReplyDeleteThe colours of your crochet flowers are so pretty, they look lovely in their jar! Your new sewing project looks great too, a challenge but wonderful.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you've been very busy. Love your new crochet flowers. Very colourful and pretty.
ReplyDelete